Guide · Leads for developers
Real estate leads: should developers buy them or generate their own?
A developer can buy leads from a vendor, get them from portals and brokers, or generate them with its own ads. Comparing these options by cost per inquiry is pointless: a cheap lead that never reaches a meeting is the most expensive one of all. Below we look at each source and calculate the cost not of an inquiry, but of a sale.
Where developers get their leads
| Source | How it works | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buying leads from a vendor | You pay for each contact the vendor delivers | Fast, no ads of your own | The same lead is often sold to several companies; you can't see where it came from or what it was promised |
| Buying databases | You pay for a list of contacts | Lots of contacts at once | These people never consented to hear from you: legal risk and near-zero response |
| Real estate portals | You pay for listings or per contact | The person is already looking for property | Dozens of competitors on the same page, contacts get expensive |
| Brokers | You pay a commission per sale | You only pay for results | 4–5% commission on the price; the buyer arrives comparing projects |
| Your own Meta and Google ads | You pay for impressions and clicks; leads land on your site or form | The lead is yours alone, you see the source, you can train the campaign on sales | Takes setup, content and fast response; otherwise cheap inquiries go to waste |
| Your old CRM database | You message leads you've already paid for | The cheapest source | Needs the right reason to reach out and a process; otherwise few reply |
The broker commission reflects our experience in Cancún. Working the broker channel is covered in how to sell pre-construction condos.
Buying leads: when it makes sense and what you risk
Buying leads looks easy: pay per contact and skip the advertising work. In practice, a purchased lead has three problems.
- The lead isn't exclusive. The same contact often goes to several developers and agencies. If you weren't first to reply, you're already second or fifth.
- You don't know what it was promised. The person filled out a form on one ad, and then your project calls them. They don't remember you and aren't expecting the call.
- You can't train your ads. Data on which leads reached a meeting or a sale never flows back into the vendor's campaign. Quality doesn't improve.
If you buy leads anyway, agree on exclusivity, the source of each lead, delivery time (the lead should land in your CRM instantly, not once a day), and replacement of contacts with wrong numbers.
What a lead really costs
Cost per lead (CPL) only shows the cheapest part of the journey. To compare sources, keep measuring: cost per qualified lead (CPQL), per meeting, and per sale (CAC).
| Cheap inquiries | Leads optimized for qualification | |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | MX$300,000 | MX$300,000 |
| Leads | 3,000 (CPL MX$100) | 1,500 (CPL MX$200) |
| Qualified | 90 (3%) | 135 (9%) |
| CPQL | MX$3,333 | MX$2,222 |
| Meetings | 27 | 40 |
| Sales | 3 | 5 |
| CAC | MX$100,000 | MX$60,000 |
In the second column an inquiry costs twice as much, while a sale costs almost half. So compare sources by cost per qualified lead and per sale, not cost per inquiry. Every stage, with formulas, is covered in the real estate sales funnel guide.
How to generate your own leads for less
- Optimize ads for qualified leads, not inquiries. When a lead qualifies or shows up to a meeting, that event flows from the CRM back to Meta and Google. The algorithm then looks for similar people, not anyone who leaves a phone number.
- Agree with sales on what a qualified lead is. One set of criteria for marketing and sales: budget, payment method, timeline and purchase goal. Otherwise marketing reports inquiries and sales calls them junk.
- Filter in the ad itself. Put the «from» price and the down payment in the ad, and a payment-method question in the form. Fewer inquiries, higher quality.
- Reply within minutes. The most expensive lead is the one you paid for and nobody answered. How to set up response and follow-up is covered in how to improve real estate lead conversion.
- Start with your own database. Your CRM holds leads you've already paid for. Bringing some of them back into sales costs less than any new lead: how to reactivate leads.
Frequently asked questions
Should real estate developers buy leads?
Only as a temporary source, on an exclusive basis, with a clear source for each lead and instant delivery to the CRM. Purchased leads often go to several companies, and sales data never flows back into the ads, so quality doesn't improve.
How do real estate developers generate leads?
With their own Meta and Google ads optimized for qualified leads rather than inquiries. What matters: qualification criteria agreed with sales, price and down payment in the ad, replying within minutes, and working the old CRM database.
How much does a real estate lead cost?
It depends on the city, product and channel, which is why you shouldn't compare cost per inquiry, but cost per qualified lead, per meeting and per sale. A cheap inquiry that never reaches a meeting ends up costing more.
Can you buy customer databases?
We don't recommend it. People in a purchased database never agreed to hear from you: it's a risk under the personal data protection law, a risk of your WhatsApp number getting banned, and near-zero response.
Sources and methodology
The table example is illustrative: it shows how to compare sources and is not a promise of results. The broker commission and project results come from the GOST team's practice on previous real estate projects, not from market statistics.